J.B. Holmes Played Too Slow on Sunday, but Matt Every May have the Answer

Slow play on the PGA Tour is out of hand. On Sunday, during the final round of the Genesis Open, eventual winner and noted slow-play enthusiast J.B. Holmes took an eternity to line up a putt.

As mentioned during the broadcast, Holmes could have been lining up his putt and reading the green on the fourth hole while his playing partner Justin Thomas was doing the same, instead he chose to stand around and wait his turn before proceeding to go through the motions.

Sure, this is allowed, but it is ridiculous and is not only frustrating for viewers, but also the guys playing alongside him. Holmes then proceeded to plum-bob the one-footer he had left, which is a little bit of overkill.

There was plenty of reaction from both fans and pros alike on Twitter during the four minutes, but nothing has changed, and the PGA Tour has yet to mention that it will begin penalizing players for this.

Last group was over a hole behind, we can all blame JB…and yes the player should take responsibility for their pace of play, but if they don’t that’s why we have Tour officials – they needed to step in a while ago IMO.

I guess rules only apply for some players. That was ridiculous how long it took him to play that shot. The rules officials need to change your policy on slow play and be more active on slow players and you won't have these 5 1/2 six hour round. @PGATOURmedia @GolfChannel#fines

Sure, you could look at some of it as gamesmanship in the moment and say that Holmes is attempting to rattle his opponent, but this also happens on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, not just during the final round.

After winning on Sunday, Holmes addressed his slow play by defending himself and blaming the conditions.

Q. The conditions made things really tough, but there was a lot of discussion on the broadcast and social media about the pace of play today. What were your thoughts about the pace and is that something you were thinking about or working on?

J.B. HOLMES: “Well, you play in 25 mile an hour gusty winds and see how fast you play when you’re playing for the kind of money and the points and everything that we’re playing for. The greens are fast, the ball Adam had a putt, he kept setting the ball down and it was rolling.

“You can’t just get up there and whack it when it’s blowing that hard. You’ve got to read wind and there’s a lot of slope on these greens. It’s not an easy golf course and you throw in winds like that. On 13 or 14, the par 3, I hit a 5 iron and it stays pretty good. He hits a 5iron really good and a gust of wind comes up and he comes up like 15 yards short, and I think he hit it better than I hit mine. It’s very tough. Then when you get putting like that, it’s just not going to be fast anywhere.”

And then he mentioned that he was never put on the clock:

J.B. HOLMES: “I’ve been slow in the past. I don’t think as slow as I mean, I’m not the fastest player, but I mean, like I said, it was really windy today and we waited a lot early. At the end, I took a little bit longer at the end, but you’re talking about getting down to the tournament, you’re talking about the last nine holes of the tournament. I mean, I think correct me if I’m wrong, but I think a lot of times the last group of the tournament gets a little bit behind.

“So, I was never even close to being on the clock all week. I mean, yeah, when I first got out here I was really slow, but I’ve sped up quite a bit. Like I said, the conditions made it tougher, too. Sometimes you’re waiting for the wind to stop blowing 30 miles an hour. Like I said, I’ve gotten better. There’s times when I’m probably too slow, but it is what it is. I was never on the clock. Nobody never even got a warning. TV wants everything to be real fast all the time.”

Meanwhile, on the Web.com Tour during the final round of the LECOM Suncoast Classic, Matt Every pulled up a chair on the par-5 16th at Lakewood National Golf Club while waiting for the group in front of him to play.

Agent Drew Carr shared a picture of the brilliance on Twitter and then mentioned that his caddie literally carried it from the 16th tee box on.